Leaves in the Fall
by Guardian of Hope
Summary: Tommy's Law: The more ordinary the day, the weirder my life becomes. An unknown villain decides to make some older Rangers' lives just that much more difficult by shoving them into a different dimension. They are given a glimpse into what life would have been like if the Orb of Doom had never been activated.
1. Tommy's Law

A/N: This is a story using my Rainbow Brotherhood as Tommy's backstory. Things that seem different from canon are deliberate. As I said, this is a look at the world where the Orb never appeared. A world where Jason and the others did not know that there were other Rangers who could come help them and fought and lived accordingly. Tommy, Billy, Kat, Aisha, Rocky, and Adam were a part of that world until they failed to stop the Orb of Doom and forced changes to the timeline that changed their friends, families, and history.

This is a darker world than the Brotherhood 'verse that Tommy came from. There are a lot of relationships that get talked about but not shown, but in general there are slash, femslash, het and multi relationships. I'll give some warnings to pairings before they show up in most cases. There's one triad that I kind of want to keep back just because I can that is m/m/f. Other than that, some basic ones are Billy/Kat, Tommy/Kim, and Rocky/Adam. I will reference the different 'ships from the Rainbow Brotherhood, so if you want to check _that_ list, I'll be more than happy to provide you with the most detailed (non-spoiler) list I have. Also, some Ranger teams didn't form here or formed differently because of the Orb, but at the moment, I've opted to not explain which.

* * *

_It was the dream again… Rito had called the Tengas to attack the carnival and we had to split up. I needed my best with me, but the Tengas were tough. For a moment, I wished that I still had Kim, or even Jason and the others behind me. I wouldn't have doubted that we could handle a two-prong attack with them. For a long moment, I hesitated. "Let's split up," Aisha said._

_"Wait," I said,_ **_I hadn't said anything that day, what was going on_****?**_ "Billy, Kat, can you handle the Tengas?"_

_"No problem, Tom," Billy replied._

_"Good," I said. "Rocky, Adam, Aisha, cover me. I'll get the Orb." __**This isn't what**_**_ happened_****.**

Tommy gasped as he woke up, the choked, almost sob tearing out of him as the reminder of the day his world had been remade. He was lying down on something, he twitched his hand to confirm it was metal. Tommy sighed and thought hard about what could have happened to him. He'd been, he'd been on his way to Jungle Karma Pizza to meet the twins and Tori when there'd been that god-awful laugh that so many monsters seemed to possess. It was close, too close, and he didn't have his zeonizers because after Reefside, he didn't want to run the risk of another Ranger hunt. Then, the crackle of lightning, too close and too hot, before something slammed into his back, shoving him into what had appeared to be one of those Swirling Vortexes of Doom, then blackness and the dream had happened. Again.

There was the scuff of a shoe against the floor. Tommy stiffed for a moment, and then he forced himself to relax. There was a very good way to tell if he was in friendly hands. "I am not opening my eyes," he announced clearly, quietly please he wasn't slurring his words. "I am not opening my eyes because if I open my eyes, I will have to admit that I fell through a portal while walking down the streets and have ended up Zordon knows where. Damn my life sucks."

"You might want to open your eyes, Tom," a familiar voice said, there was an undercurrent of dark amusement.

Tommy opened his eyes and found Jason leaning over him with a decided smirk. "Scott," Tommy said.

"Lee Scott," Jason said.

Tommy sat up, rubbing his head, "Where am I?"

"Where do you think?" Jason asked.

Tommy looked around, "The," he stopped, twisting to take in the entire room. "The Command Center, but," he turned to Jason, "I don't understand, the Command Center was destroyed."

Jason's smirk disappeared, "Maybe where ever you came from it was, but not here. Not for lacking of trying though."

Tommy just stared, because it had been _years_ since he'd seen the Power Chamber, much less the Command Center. Finally, he turned back to Jason, "Things have changed," he said. "A lot of things. It is 2012, right?"

"Actually no, it's 2008," Jason said. He glanced around, "The others are on their way, Tom. I let them know after the scans came back. By the way, when did you wear _Black?_"

"It was in 2004, in Reefside," Tommy replied, distracted. When Jason gave him a long look, Tommy glared back at him. "I didn't exactly have a choice, ok? It was let the damn thing fall into the hands of _fucking_ Mesogog or use it myself and I would take it as a favor if you didn't ride my ass for it Jason. I got twice the amount of shit from everybody the _first_ time around."

Tommy winced, because Jason didn't really like it when he swore, and it would probably go double in the Power Chamber. And wasn't that a head-trip he wasn't quite over yet.

Jason through his head back and laughed as half-forgotten beams of light filled the room. Tommy scanned the colors coming in, one red, green and black, and two blues, yellows, and pinks. After a moment, the light faded along with Jason's laughter. "What's so funny?"

Tommy sucked air between his teeth, because it was Kim. Not the pale imitation of Kim he'd admired from a far for so many years, but _his_ Kim. The Kim who had fought and laughed with joyous abandoned, going hard so that they _could_ go home. The girl, now woman, he'd called _beautiful_ because she _was,_ her spirit a glorious flame fanned by the winds of the war they had fought.

"I'm sorry, and you know, I get that you're me from another dimension, but do you mind _not staring at my wife._"

Tommy wrenched his eyes away to see himself. "Sorry," he said, his voice scratchy.

"You ok there?" Jason asked, "You look a little pale."

Tommy coughed, "I'm fine." He risked a second glance at the petite brunette, "You remind me of a girl a once knew."

"Did something happen to me?" Kim asked, glancing at her Tommy, "Is that why you look like you've seen a ghost."

Tommy laughed, the cynical, bitter laugh that had been born twelve years ago. "Trust me, somewhere in Canada, I'm fairly positive Kimberly Johansson nee Hart is either chasing bad guys or helping her kids with their homework. You, on the other hand, remind me of Kim, the girl I called _beautiful_ and was going to marry as soon as we were out of high school."

"What's the difference?" Jason asked.

Tommy stared at his friends, seeing all the differences and all the similarities. "Have you ever heard of the Orb of Doom?" He asked finally.

"That is an excellent question, Tommy."

As a grief and fear tinged astonishment filled him, Tommy watched as a familiar and beloved face filled the half-noticed energy tube. At the same time, only one thought filled his mind. _I am going to kill Andros._ "Zordon," he whispered.


	2. An Old New World

Disclaimer: I do not own Power Rangers in any way, shape or form.

A/N: And we're moving on. Tommy might be a touch OOC here, but there are reasons for this that will be explored as the story goes on. Also, Tommy swears. A lot. This story has become far more than just 'I wonder what would happen if the Orb had never activated'. Enjoy!

* * *

Tommy spun, grabbing Jason by the arm to balance himself as he almost fell off the bed, "Jason," he croaked, "tell me, _did you defeat Dark Spector?"_

"Tom," Jason began.

Tommy shook his arm, _"Did you defeat Dark Spector?"_

"We did," Jason said slowly. "A long time ago."

"Fuck him," Tommy spit out, slamming his other fist into the bio bed. "Fuck him sideways with Goldar's sword. I am going to rip every single hair out of his body one by one. I am going to _kill_ that fucking bastard and rend him limb from limb."

"Who?" Trini asked.

"Why?" Zack demanded. Tommy glanced up at him suspiciously. "What? It's a logical question."

Tommy took a deep breath and looked back up at Zordon, "His name is Andros of KO-35, he's the Red Astro Ranger, and he killed Zordon after Zordon told him that the energy in his tube was the only thing that could end the Great War."

"He's still alive?" The other Tommy demanded. Tommy knew that expression, that emotion, he remembered being the one turning it on Adam when his friend had quietly told him the story behind Astronema's Invasion and Zordon's death. With Jason on the other side of the country going to school, Adam had volunteered to break the news in a cheap hotel room somewhere in Georgia. Tommy did not even care that he did not remember actually.

"Not for lack of trying," Tommy told him bitterly. "Between Tanya and Kat, they held me back the first time, and after that Jason blocked me until the only defense I could think of was mind control and it was too late for that one either."

"That is not important," Zordon said, "I am sure that I had good reason to command Andros of KO-35 to do as he did. What must be discussed now is how you came to find the portal you came through."

Tommy sighed, "Are you familiar with Ocean Bluff and the Jungle Fury Rangers?"

"Yes," Jason said, "they're currently active."

"Well, I live in Ocean Bluff, and amazingly, I managed to make it through the Ranger year without picking up another Ranger color." Tommy said, "For the most part, I just tried not to eat at JKP and obey the monster alerts. Today, however, I promised to meet Tori at JKP to pick up my kids."

"Kids?" Kim asked.

"Yes," Tommy said, and he couldn't keep from smiling, "I have two daughters. Tori is their baby-sitter slash bodyguard." He glanced up, "I don't know what the universe is like here, but my children figured out how to turn invisible at the age of two, that plus my status as a Ranger makes them worth a pretty penny in some circles."

"I'm familiar with the phenomena," Jason said.

"Anyways, I was heading to JKP when I heard a monster laughing. Something hit me and then I'm waking up on a bio-bed in a building that was destroyed thirteen years ago." Tommy shrugged, "I'm sorry I can't help much. I didn't get a good look at the portal itself, but what I recall seems like a standard Swirling Vortex of Doom."

"And you've had experience with swirling vortexes of doom?" Rocky asked.

"Almost as much experience as I have teaching science to teenagers," Tommy replied.

"No," other Tommy said, looking horrified.

"You can't be," Zack said, a smile growing on his face.

"Like I told Mesogog," Tommy replied, "sorry, can't help you. I'm just a high school science teacher." Besides other Tommy's horror, the rest of the team had expressions ranging from smug amusement to bright grins. Zordon's Rangers had always known how to enjoy a joke at their teammate's expense.

Rocky leaned over to Adam and stage whispered, "This is just like Christmas."

"You didn't actually say that," other Tommy said.

"I'd like to see you do better when you're strapped to a mad scientist's dentist chair with a quote unquote 'life force extractor' aimed at your head," Tommy said, "besides, I walked away with a net gain of three hundred dollars for doing it."

"A net gain?" Trini asked.

"I lost a couple hundred," Tommy shrugged, "you know, because I lost the pool on my next Ranger color." He caught the other Tommy's long look, "Hey, I got really good odds on Pink, ok? Besides, Jason lost three grand on Gold and Trini kicked his ass so hard he banned gambling period."

Seeing the other Rangers, it was almost enough to help Tommy get over the sight of Zordon, alive and well and watching over Earth as he had done for so long. It was more than just seeing beautiful Kim, it was that little hint of darkness in Jason's eyes even when he was laughing. It was the way Rocky was half hanging off Adam, like they were two seconds away from kissing each other and all they needed was a little incentive for it. Aisha was on Adam's other side, snuggled under his arm and he'd bet money that she had her hand in Adam's back pocket, the way Rocky obviously had his. Trini was leaning against Zack, which was different, but there was such a casual laziness in her posture that Tommy wasn't quite ready to question it. Kat and Billy were also standing close, not quite touching but almost leaning towards each other. For a moment, Tommy remembered Kat and the rat-faced heir she'd almost married, how there had been that silent connection between them that had convinced him to support Kat's decision. Between _this_ Kat and Billy, the bond was almost visible.

After a moment, Tommy let himself study his other self. From the spiked hair style, Tommy was positive that his counterpoint had never been a schoolteacher and may or may not have been involved with Anton. He stood easily, comfortable in his skin and his surroundings in a way Tommy hadn't felt in over a decade.

"So, science teacher," the other Tommy said, "how did you get into that?"

"I graduated college with a bachelors in earth science and a minor in paleontology, not to mention getting my masters and PhD in earth science with an emphasis in paleontology," Tommy replied hesitantly. When Jason snorted, he muttered "there may or may not have been a time travel incident involved. Anyways, I needed a job to help me survive my masters and PhD programs and I landed an internship with Anton Mercer."

"You worked for Mercer?" Other Tommy demanded, "By all that's good, Tommy, didn't his plans for dino DNA not scream a warning to you?"

"I needed the money," Tommy retorted hotly. "Besides, we didn't start the DNA work at first. That wasn't until later. I'd found the dino gems, and I wanted to distract Anton from trying to harness them, the DNA project was a good distraction. It's not like I anticipated Anton experimenting on himself to create Mesogog, ok? I thought I was just going to be part of his archeological team while going to school. I probably would have done better with Hartford, even if Andrew's interests are more focused on relics over dinosaurs, but the money was better with Mercer."

"Enough," Zordon said. "You said the Command Center was destroyed thirteen years ago?"

Tommy forced himself to look at his mentor, "Yes, I did. Rito and Goldar took advantage of our distractions to get into the emergency tunnels and plant a bomb in 1996. We used the Power Chamber after that, although _fucking_ Divatox destroyed it two years later."

_"Divatox?"_ Jason asked.

"I wasn't a Ranger then," Tommy replied, "forced retirement. Not that I didn't like being able to focus on my degree, but none of us were really happy about the was Dimitria of Inquiris handled the whole thing."

"Rangers," Zordon said, "there is much we need to learn, we need not allow ourselves to get side tracked."

"Zordon's right," Jason said. "Maybe it would be better if most of you waited for the report. Adam, Kim, I'd appreciate it if you two stayed."

"Right," Rocky said, looking at his watch, "I have a class in ten minutes."

The other Rangers muttered their own excuses and teleported out one at time until the other Tommy, Kim, and Adam waited.

"Tommy," Jason said.

"Wait," Tommy said, looking at his counterpart. "I'm not interested in your wife, Oliver. I still love the girl I called _beautiful_, but I mourned her as well. I never particularly cared for the pale reflection that lives now. I met and married a different girl, the mother of my children. She died a few years back and every day I mourn her. I'm not going to try to sweep Kim off her feet."

"Go," Kim said, pushing the other Tommy gently, "I'll be fine."

Tommy stared at his doppelgänger for a long moment before reluctantly teleporting away.


	3. The Frog Cometh

A/N: I've said it, but this is an Alternate Universe. Things change. I tried to explain why they changed. The change was based on a personal theory that Rangers can't change the villain their power counters, and because I liked what it symbolized. I didn't really want to go into the reasons behind in the story, but I'll be happy to share my thoughts or you can look them up yourself. Enjoy!

* * *

After a long moment of staring at each other, Tommy stood up, "So, where do we start?"

"The Command Center blew up?" Jason said at almost the exact same time.

"We were a little distracted being turned back into teenagers," Tommy said. "It was a bad month."

"You mentioned the Orb," Adam said quietly.

"Master Vile showed up," Tommy said bitterly, "and then unleashed the Orb. Time turned back to nineteen eighty-eight and we rewrote the timeline instead of fixing it, lost Aisha and the Command Center, Billy retired and we started using the Zeo powers. I think that qualifies as the worst month of my life post Green Ranger."

"You _lost_ Aisha?" Kim said.

Tommy closed his eyes against the up swelling pain. After the Orb, what happened to Aisha had to be one of his greatest failures. He had been so caught up in everything, from the Zords to training Kat, to trying to convince his parents he was fine, that he forgot to keep an eye on his team. None of them had noticed Aisha was drowning until she didn't come back up. "She chose to change her past and stayed in Africa, where she found the yellow crystal. She sent someone else back in her place, Tanya, and she was a good Ranger, but she wasn't Aisha. Tanya told me she came because Aisha thought she had failed us as a Yellow, because she wasn't Trini. None of us noticed she was having trouble until she was gone."

Adam crossed his arms and nodded, "It was a bad time, with Kim leaving and learning to use our ninja powers." He leaned over a bit and knocked Kim with his shoulder, she gave him an unsteady smile.

"Exactly," Tommy said, trying to think of something he could say to the Pink Ranger to indicate that it wasn't her fault, whatever had happened.

Suddenly, the alarms went off.

It was like yesterday had been their last mission, Tommy felt his heart begin to pound and he started to twist his wrist before remembering his Zeonizers were tucked in his sock drawer beside his defunct White Tiger and Black Dino Thunder morphers.

"Zordon," Jason said, his voice deepening into his command voice, "What's going on?"

"Another portal has opened," Zordon announced, "with the same signature as the portal that Tommy came through."

"Aye, aye, aye."

Tommy glanced over to see an Alpha unit shuffle out from the back of the Command Center. Tommy wondered what the little robot had been doing back there.

"We'll check this out," Jason said, gripping Tommy's shoulder, "anything we should be aware of, Tom?"

Tommy bit his lip, "No, not unless Grumm decided to make a move. The last team just dealt with their big bad, and we were discussing the next Ranger Reunion. The only thing that seemed to be going on was the rather nuclear meltdown of Ronnie and Will's marriage and we've been expecting that since before they even eloped." He paused, "Unless that murderous bastard decided to embrace super-villainy, we've been on the outs again. After what that little silver shit said to Tony…" He stopped, "No, nothing worth worrying about."

"We'll be back soon then," Jason said, "Adam, let the Zeo team know the Ninjetti will handle this."

Adam nodded as he fiddled with a small black device. "Tom said they're standing by."

"Ninjetti," Jason said, "Cougar."

"The Gazelle," Kim added.

Tommy got enough of a look to see almost familiar red and pink suits before Jason and Kim teleported out.

"So," Tommy said, turning to Adam, "Ninjetti?"

"With Dark Spector coming into power, we needed back up," Adam said, attention mostly focused on his little device. "Zordon sent Jason's team to this planet called Phaedos to get their powers reworked. Surprised all of us when Billy and Kim came back with the kinkajou and the gazelle."

"The kinkajou," Tommy snorted, "seriously?"

"Yeah," Adam said, glancing up, "Jason said they were told that the Ninjetti might have parallels to our Ninja powers, but there were also a number of differences." He tilted his head slightly, "Unfortunately, we've not had need for new powers, what with the Zeo crystal, and so I'm still the frog."

"Don't knock the frog," Tommy retorted, "it's probably one of the better animals for being underestimated. I was kidnapped by evil villains and forced to take on new powers. Adam, I mean you, I mean, the Adam I know, had been invited by a good spirit to help take down an accident of birth and rescue a ranger team. That's luck, healing, intermediary and metamorphoses all wrapped up in one trip."

"The Rangers are coming back," Zordon said, "I think you might be surprised Tommy."

"That's going to get confusing," Adam commented. "I mean, most of us call your counterpart Tom, but still."

"If it helps with the confusion," Tommy offered, "I've gotten good at responding to Doctor O, or just straight Doc."

A rainbow of light heralded the arrival of the Ninjetti, and they brought with them a black clad figure.

"Who is that?" Adam asked.

Zack grunted as he helped Jason lift the body. "Unless you've got a twin," he managed as they headed for the bio-bed. Tommy moved out of the way, staring as an unconscious Adam was made comfortable on the bed.

"Me?" Adam said, moving forward.

"You," Jason replied, he glanced at Tommy, "Yours?"

"Maybe," Tommy said, edging around the backside of the bio-bed. He carefully shifted Adam's arm and summoned his Zeonizers. "I know how to find out."

Ignoring his audience, Tommy pulled off the morpher from Adam's wrist and flipped it over in his hand. He hesitated, and then pressed his palm against the underside of the device. For a long moment, nothing happened. Then the morpher vibrated and a green light shot out, resolving itself into a holographic green square.

"What's that?" Jason asked.

"It took time for us to get the hang of hiding these," Tommy said. "We would take them off when wearing them would be too obvious. After getting them mixed up one time too many, Zordon and Billy reworked them so that when we weren't sure which of them were ours, we could do that and figure it out. Billy recalibrated them a couple of years back while helping fix up some of the drained morphers so they have a fairly accurate bio-signature to read from."

Tommy refastened the morpher and shook his head. Adam was not one to wear his Zeonizers openly, he preferred the more subtle and iconic Black Ranger when he needed to put in an appearance. There was only one place he would bring the Zeonizers, villain or no villain. "He must have been on his way back from the Island. He wouldn't have been wearing them otherwise." He glanced up as Jason approached with a med-scanner, "How long do you think he'll be out?"

"Well," Jason said, "You were out for about five minutes, so he should be waking up pretty soon."

"Right," Tommy said and took a long step back. "You guys might not want to hover. We just finished Intergalactic Prank Week."

His warning was not quite in time as Adam's eyes popped open and he surged up, clocking Jason with a beautiful right cross.


	4. Time Stream Shuffle

A/N: 'Time stream shuffle' is the now official phrase for my guys jumping around the timestream and alternate timelines. Just because. Some things here might not make sense yet, but I have plans and plots to explain quite a bit of it later on. Kermit is Adam's nickname from the Zeo era, because he was a frog spirit with a Green morpher. Enjoy!

* * *

Tommy lunged forward, "Kermit, stop," he snapped, gripping Adam's arm.

Adam struggled for a moment before Tommy's words cut throw him, and then he turned too stared at him. "Doc, what's going on?"

Tommy stared into Adam's eyes, knowing his friend was remembering the night, and the bottle of whisky, and the thirty-seven code phrases they had developed just because they could. Phrases, quotes, and names snickered over to the background of a James Bond marathon while trying to forget that Tony had left Blue Bay Harbor for a tiny island in the middle of nowhere.

"What do you remember?" Tommy asked, not really wanting to go over the history of the Orb again.

Adam frowned for a moment, and then closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. Tommy recognized the breathing pattern as the one that Adam used when Antonio called with the latest 'Samurai update', a pattern designed to help him stay calm in the face of 'Emily got hurt, Mike almost became a Nighlok I don't know what to feel' situations. "Swirling vortex of doom," Adam said finally, opening his eyes again, still focusing entirely on Tommy.

Tommy gestured, "Alternate dimension. I think we did the time stream shuffle. If we did, it means that Tony and the Dino Teens will never let us live it down."

Adam snorted and pulled his arm out of Tommy's grasp, "Who did I punch anyways?" He turned to look at the crowd, "Because I am sor…"

Tommy rested his hand on Adam's shoulder as Adam stared at the patiently watching Zordon, squeezing enough to let his friend know that he was there. "That's," Adam said.

"Yup." Tommy agreed.

"He's," Adam said.

"Yup," Tommy said.

"How?" Adam's voice was faint and unsteady.

"Haven't asked," Tommy replied.

Jason cleared his throat, and Tommy stared at him for a moment, "Are we expecting any more guests, do you think?"

Tommy looked at Adam, frowning. He remembered what it felt like for him, going through the Vortex, if Adam felt it. "I felt like I was pushed," he told his friend. "Did you?"

"Yeah," Adam said. "It wasn't just that I went through the vortex, I was pushed. It opened right in front of me and I was pushed to make sure I got in. Someone didn't want me to escape."

"Me either," Tommy replied. "Ok, so, _someone_, that's probably a minion, wanted the Frog out of the way because you remain the luckiest Ranger, you'd figure it out and stop him, no problem." It was an old technique, from the Mission We Don't Talk About. It was somewhat based on those old detective films, but it also was a way to establish some credentials between them.

"And you're you," Adam said, "the Legendary Ranger, the One Who Doesn't Know When to Quit or Retire, the Good Doctor, Technicolor Tommy. The one Ranger you don't put near active power sources because he will find them and fuck your shit up in the process." It was also good for annoying each other. Tommy knew that Adam drew it out for a reason though, not just to annoy him. He was starting to get a feel for Adam's thoughts and he knew Adam was experiencing the same thing for him.

"Someone got the two Rangers with a reputation for stopping evil plots out of the way," Tommy said, ignoring some of the others. "Someone, probably a _minion,_ was afraid we'd figure out what he's up to." Adam knew what he meant; they did not even need the weird little Empathic connection between them for Adam to understand. They both knew that there were Grumm and SPD minions on Earth, having slipped through the refugee process. Alphabet Soup was just the tip of the iceberg.

"But he put us in a world with Rangers," Adam pointed out, "if he can control a portal, he should control where we ended up. What's to stop a blue ranger from throwing together something to get us back?" Tommy cursed mentally; he had gotten side tracked and forgot the point of the little exercise.

"Even if Billy can't," Tommy said, "then there are still our techs. Between Cam, Hailey, and Tony, they have built different types of vortex manipulators." Of course, they had done it for the RPM group several times. It was a given that Bridge had taken advantage of that tech during Thrax's attack to get there and back.

"Doctor Who, but accurate enough," Adam muttered. "We're too good at getting out of shit for the Rangers to hunt us to the exclusion of all else." True. Painful, but true. After the Mission, there had been a few other scrapes that Tommy was willing to bet that most of the Rangers did not know about. He knew for a fact, however, that the Dino Teens would raise a fuss. They would probably have Ethan 'do the thing' and bug Hailey to help them out, but that might not be enough.

"If someone wants the Rangers distracted they'll pick someone," Tommy trailed off, knowing whom _he_ would chose if he wanted the Rangers to look elsewhere. From the way, Adam looked from him to the other Rangers and back, he knew what Tommy was thinking.

"That's who I'd pick," Adam said with a little nod. There was a hint of sympathy in Adam's thoughts. Even with all the changes, Tommy knew he was still a sucker for saving her.

Tommy turned to Jason, "_If_ someone else were to show up, there's only one person. It would not be our Jason. He has the whole leader thing down, but after his dad got sick; he took a step back because he needed to take care of him. Before you ask, his dad's kids quote unquote couldn't handle him declining from Alzheimer's." From the look of pain that crossed Jason's eyes, Tommy thought that this was one situation that had not altered all that much either.

"Not Zack," Adam said, "he doesn't get as involved with the ones who aren't Black Rangers, what with his job." Zack shrugged, clearly not that bothered by the information.

"Not Billy, he doesn't even live on Earth anymore." Tommy noticed that Billy also looked confused, and he wondered if, without the Orb, Billy would have needed to go to Aquitar to be healed.

"Then _who_?" Jason demanded.

"Who else," Tommy said as he met her eyes, "they'd grab Kim."


	5. Life Happens

A/N: I commented that Ethan would 'do the thing' last chapter, and here again... I'm referencing Ethan's habit of saying 'It's not like zir going to fall out of the sky' and have it come true (or something to that effect). Yes Hanna and Hunter's relationship is a real thing. It's rare, but it happens. Other than that, Enjoy!

* * *

None of the alarms went off and Tommy chuckled, "That was anti-climatic."

"You thought it would work?" Adam asked.

"Always a chance," Tommy pointed out, "it works for Ethan."

"You honestly think they'll pick _me?_" Kim asked, sounding stunned.

"Oh they'd pick Kimmie," Adam said with a slight snort. Tommy glanced at him, remembering a conversation once about their friend and her new counterpart. Adam had forgiven Kim, having come to understand the differences in the timeline, but he had never really been impressed with her. In this world, it seemed that he was, like Tommy, was allowing some of his opinions of the Rangers to slip out.

"Kim Johansson is a pink," Tommy shrugged, "and very much the Ranger's Heart. As the Elder Pink Ranger, she has a long history of being very much available for the other Pink Rangers, and their teams in general. Her Senior, Vida, has a different style, so Kim remains active in their color more so than many others do. Add to that, she is a well-known Olympian, and works for a SWAT team and people will really notice if she vanishes. With it being summer, people will not really notice I am missing except for Tori and the girls."

"People will notice," Adam said, "but it won't be a big media frenzy the way taking Kim would be."

"Distractions," Jason said, "what would someone be doing?"

"Whatever it is, we can't solve it now," Tommy said, "and the Samurai are doing their first duty turns up on the Fortress. Tony knows the equipment like nobody's business, he'll keep them focused." He glanced around, "Are we going to have to hang around here? Because as nice as it is to see the Command Center again, it's going to get very boring, very fast."

"We'd have to be careful," Jason said, looking at the rest of his team, "but maybe Lightspeed could help."

"I need to go," Billy said, "Angela and I were about to begin an experiment when you summoned me."

"Sorry man," Jason said.

The other rangers nodded to Adam and vanished, leaving, again, Adam, Jason, and Kim.

…/…/…/…/…/…/…/…/…

Adam studied his counterpart; the other Adam met his eyes for a long moment before making his own pointed examination. "So," Adam said after a moment of silence, "do you run a dojo?"

"No," the other Adam said slowly, "Rocky, Aisha and I are the senior teachers at the Wind Academy."

"You went back?" Adam asked, "_Aisha_ came back?"

"Aisha never left," the other Adam said.

"Right, the Orb never happened," Adam said, "Sorry, that's a little hard to get my head around. What happened to Tanya then?" He vaguely noticed that Tommy looked up at his question.

"Who is Tanya?" The other Adam asked.

Adam raised his eyebrows, "Tanya Sloan-Park," he said quietly, "Yellow Zeo Ranger and my wife."

The alerts went off.

"Zordon?" Jason asked as Adam tried to get his heart rate to steady. He had not heard that noise in over a decade and it still made him ready to leap into battle.

"Another portal," Zordon said.

"Right," Jason said, he turned to Kim and the other Adam, "Let's go. If we need back up, Zordon can call the others."

"Right," the other Adam said while Kim just nodded.

"Ninjetti," Jason said, "the Cougar."

"The Gazelle," Kim said.

"Zeo Ranger Four, Green," the other Adam said.

The three disappeared into their respective teleportation signatures.

Adam studied Tommy for a moment before looking up at the wizard who had been such an important part of his life. "Hello Zordon," he said carefully.

"Hello Adam," Zordon replied.

Adam cleared his throat, "I don't know what to say, exactly."

"That's all right," Zordon said. "I am sure there will be more opportunities to ask what you want to know."

Adam nodded, "All right."

There was a soft sound of static and the three Rangers returned with another person. "It's Kim all right," Jason said.

Adam and Tommy moved so that they could put Kim on the bio-bed. "This is way too familiar," Tommy muttered.

Adam grinned at him, "Just like old times, yeah?"

"For certain definitions of old times," Tommy said, he looked away.

Adam followed his gaze to where the other Kim was scanning their Kim with a medical device.

"Hey, Adam?"

Adam looked at the other Adam, "What's up?" He asked.

"You said you married a girl named Tanya?" Other Adam said hesitantly.

"I did," Adam nodded. He noticed Tommy heading for Jason, but ignored them. "We didn't actually marry until a few years back, but we have children and have lived together for a while."

"What happened to Rocky?" Other Adam asked. "Did you two break up?"

Adam closed his eyes, throat tightening in protest of the memories that sprang to life. He could feel Tommy's tension through the bond and forced himself to submerge the pain again. "For us to 'break up'," he said aloud, "We would have to have been dating in the first place. Since we never got together in _either_ timeline, it was very easy for him to leave for Javor when he graduated." _We both said and did things we regret. We might have presented our friendship as strong and normal afterwards, but we have never really forgiven or forgotten. He will not forget and I will not forgive._

"I'm sorry," other Adam said, "Rocky and I, we're together and depending on whom you ask Aisha's ours as well."

"Aisha," Adam shook his head, "yeah, I can actually see that. Although she probably would hurt you for calling her yours, if memory serves me."

Other Adam laughed, "Man, that's not how it works with us. We are Aisha's men, always have been. It is just that now she sometimes lets us call her ours. The kids are happy with that."

Adam considered his options for a moment, and then reached for his wallet, "I'll show you mine if you show me yours."

Other Adam chuckled as he pulled out his own wallet, "Deal."

They situated themselves against the back of one of the control panels and Adam flipped his wallet open to his oldest, "This is Antonio," he said, "Tanya and I adopted him. He was a student at my dojo before his dad nearly killed him. He is the reason Tanya and I got married. We had been together for years, but they preferred a married couple."

"Is he a good kid?" Other Adam asked, leaning over.

"Gold Ranger," Adam said, "and currently active. I am so glad Mom and Dad didn't know I was a Ranger when I was active, given the number of grey hairs Tony's given me."

Other Adam chuckled, "It's bad enough when it's a kid you trained going out there." He offered a picture of two younger kids, "Hanna and Hunter, our bi-paternal fraternal twins."

"Your what?" Adam asked, leaning in for a closer look.

"Hanna is my daughter, and Hunter is Rocky's son, but they're twins," other Adam explained.

Adam nodded, "I can see the resemblance a little. How old are they?"

"They just turned six," other Adam replied, "and they are color crazy. Everything's rainbows with them."

Adam chuckled and flipped a picture, "This is Paul, and he's twelve. He is the quiet one. He says he wants to be a doctor, but last year, he wanted to be a writer, and when he was five he wanted to be a duck, so I'm not holding my breath."

Other Adam nodded as he pulled out another picture, "This is Mina, our baby."

Adam bit his lip for a moment, "She's precious," he said.

"She's spoiled," other Adam replied, "and nothing we say will stop it."

Adam chuckled and flipped to a new picture, "I know the feeling. This is Nina."

"She looks like who Mina will grow into," Adam said quietly.

"Well," Adam said, "there are always similarities. Nina's ten, and she's trying to be twenty."

"How do you handle that?" Other Adam asked.

"Tanya and I laid down the law," Adam said, "We let her get her ears pierced for her birthday, but nothing else, and if she breaks the rules before we say she can, well, she'll face the consequences."

He flipped the pictures again, "This is our youngest, Julian. He's six; he'll be seven in December."

"A Christmas baby?" Other Adam asked.

"A Christmas miracle," Adam replied. "He was premature and we almost lost him. The family calls him Jinx."

"Why Jinx?" Other Adam asked.

"Because there's something about Jinx and Tony being in the same room. Tony has been training in the martial arts since he was eight. He is a Water Ninja and he spent six months training with Cam Watanabe's Samurai Master Grandfather to learn some very ancient sword techniques. As I said, he is the Gold Samurai Ranger and is an excellent sixth ranger. However, put him and Jinx in the same room and Tony cannot walk three steps without tripping over air. So Julian is Antonio's Jinx." Adam smiled to himself as he took out a picture of Tanya, "This is Tanya."

"She is beautiful," other Adam said, almost grudgingly.

"She's sassy," Adam replied, starting to put the pictures away. "She's a radio personality on KWIND and in her spare time she makes sure that Zordon's Rangers have their heads on straight. Trini might be a psychologist, but Tanya's the one that gets Tommy to let go."

"How does she do that?" Jason asked, catching their attention. "Sorry, just couldn't help over hearing."

"Tanya's just easy to talk to," Tommy said, looking uncomfortable.

"There's that," Adam agreed, "but there's also the, how many is it now, Doc? Six, or is it seven, colonoscopies she's talked someone into performing."

"Six," Tommy muttered.

"Colonoscopies?" Kim asked as she moved away from the bio-bed.

"Tanya has been conspiring with Doctor Dana for years," Adam said, "to ensure that we're all healthy. She says that frequent colonoscopies and prostate exams are important, because the amount of bull shit that someone like Tommy has just _cannot_ be healthy."

Their laughter was dying away when a groan filled the air, "Ugh, did anyone get the number for that bus?"

Kimberly Johansson was awake.


	6. Double Up

A/N: Ok, just for reference, Kimberly is the traveler, Kim lives in the timeline. Adam is the traveler, other Adam lives in the timeline, Tommy is the traveler, Tom lives in the timeline. Adam is also referred to as Kermit and Tommy is also referred to as Doc. I should have mentioned this before (and I apologize) but there will be a chapter that will contain flashbacks of emotional abuse. I will warn on the chapter itself, but I figured an early warning wouldn't go amiss. Other than that, Enjoy!

* * *

Adam watched as Kimberly sat up, "How hard did I hit my head?" She asked, rubbing her temple, "I think I'm seeing double."

"No, you're not," Adam said, and blinked as he realized that the other Adam had said it at the same time.

"That's not convincing," Kimberly said.

"What do you remember?" Tommy asked.

Kimberly tilted her head, mouth moving as she clearly tried to remember. Then Kim stepped closer and Kimberly turned to look at her, _"Dammit_," she said, "did I switch bodies again?" Then she paused, "For the record, I have a closet full of clothes in my size, you didn't need to shop…"

"_Kimberly,"_ Tommy snapped, "no, you aren't experiencing a body swap. We're in an alternate dimension."

"Oh," Kimberly said, still eyeing her double dubiously.

Kim smiled and tilted her head a little, "I was doing yard work, by the way. Yes, as a matter of fact, I do pick up yard work clothes from charity shops and second hand stores."

"Sorry," Kimberly said, she tilted her head a little, "Is that working for you? Rebecca keeps stealing all my old clothes for dress up, so I have nothing for yard work and gardening."

"Works for me," Kim said, "I usually donate the stuff the girls don't use."

_"Girls,"_ Kimberly said.

"Uh, Kim," Tommy said, touching Kimberly's shoulder, "This is Kim Oliver."

"You married _Tommy?" _ Kim said.

"Hey," Kim and Tommy said in unison.

Jason chuckled, "I can see the differences you mentioned man," he clapped Tommy's shoulder.

"Indeed," Zordon said as he returned to the room. "However, you should update your teammates on our newest arrivals. As Tommy has stated, the Command Center is not the ideal place for continued habitation."

_"Zordon,"_ Kimberly said, scrambling off the bed, "but," she turned to Tommy and then back to Zordon.

"Things went a little differently in this timeline," Tommy said as he put his hand on Kimberly's shoulder blade.

Adam snorted, "I saw the sarcasm coming," he said when everyone looked at him; "I didn't realize you'd picked up a knack for understatement too."

Tommy grinned at him, "I'm just full of surprises."

"Can we get back to Zordon not being dead please?" Kimberly said.

"It's simple," Tommy said, "that murderous bastard wasn't around to kill him."

"Oh Tommy," Kimberly said.

"No," Tommy said, "not just no, but _hell no._ You do not get to judge me, Kimberly Johansson. You do not get to judge my relationship with Zordon. I am not your White Ranger, Johansson; _he_ had a safety net he did not need. It's time you faced a few facts about the Orb of Doom."

"That happened years ago," Kimberly said.

"Yeah, and around it here, it never happened at all," Tommy said. "The timeline _changed_ Kim. Did you even think to ask what was different? I know you noticed that we were different, I have a bad memory, but I'm not deaf."

"What do you mean?" Kimberly asked, looking nervous.

"How did it go?" Tommy pretended to think, "Oh yes. _'Hey Jase, isn't Tommy acting a little weird? I know you said that robot guy's brainwashing was broken, but are you sure?'"_

"That's enough," Jason said as he gripped Tommy's shoulder, "I can understand you've probably sat on this for a while, but this isn't going to get us anywhere with getting you back. I was thinking we could probably talk to Lightspeed, at least to see about temporary accommodations." He looked at each of them for a moment, "You are familiar with Lightspeed Rescue, I presume?"

"Yeah," Tommy said, "did some work with them before the team activated."

"I helped with their training programs," Adam offered.

Kim shrugged, "I've worked with Dana a few times, and I've been helping settle some people up in my area, but I'm not really affiliated with them."

"Will we need to call Carter or something?" Tommy asked.

"Not to get on base," Jason replied, "I'm part of Project Rainbow, the official name for Ranger Assistance and Identity Reinforcement. If I code in for a Rainbow issue, we'll be able to drive on base without a problem and Colonel Mitchell and Grayson can help us from there."

"Do you not like Carter or something?" Kimberly asked.

"I'm not entirely certain how to deal with someone who told the third grade that his cousin Richard was Dick Grayson from Batman and Robin, a story which _continues_ to come up when he runs into old friends." Jason replied.

"And for that, I will bend the drinking rules," Tommy said. Adam thought he looked like Christmas had come early. It had always been hard to find something to tease the Red Ranger firefighter about without him taking it the wrong way.

"Drinking rules?" The other Adam murmured.

"We aren't supposed to get drunk on Earth," Adam replied, "especially not after the Moon debacle and Conner and Nick's road trip."

Kimberly chuckled, "Thanks for reminding me, Adam." She reached over and smacked Tommy on the shoulder, then turned to Jason.

"Moon debacle?" Jason asked.

"The all-Red Rangers trip to the moon to blow up Serpentera back in 2003," Adam offered. "The Machine Empire was involved too."

"We took care of Serpentera years ago," Jason said, "we blew it to kingdom come during the war actually. Cost us the Dragonzord and the Shogun Zords, but we managed it."

"Then I don't have to hit you on behalf of my Pink, Yellow, and White sisters," Kimberly said happily.

"What about Tori and Madison?" Adam asked.

"Tori decked all of them during the week of your wedding," Kimberly replied, "She said she'd gotten her licks in then. Madison doesn't really approve, so she said to count her out."

"Right," Adam said.

"Let's get going," Jason said. "We'll teleport to my house and head in from there." He paused, and then shrugged, "Trini and Zack are taking the kids to the water park, so no one will see us come in."

"All right," Tommy said, he glanced at Adam and Kimberly before turning back to Jason, "Ready when you are, man."

"Good luck Rangers," Zordon said as the oddly quiet Alpha sent them away.


	7. Departure

A/N: Would this be a good time to mention that I've got a nice collection of relationships going here? Probably. Threesome/slash stuff mentioned here. Enjoy!

* * *

Jason's house was in Mariner Bay, a rather sprawling three story, contemporary structure with a pool in the back yard. There were no neighbors visible from behind the privacy fence either, so Adam felt himself relax as he understood why Jason was so casual about teleportation.

"That's a big house." Tommy commented.

"Three adults, six kids, it gets kind of tight." Jason replied, "The garage is this way."

"Three adults?" Adam asked.

"Six kids?" Kimberly asked.

"Nine." Tommy muttered. When everyone stared at him, he turned to Jason, "I never pictured you for a minivan driver."

"It was a compromise," Jason replied, "Zack was arguing for a short bus."

"Why would Zack have input on your automobile choices?" Kimberly asked as they entered the garage.

Jason looked at her for a moment, "Because, despite the fact that we live in different places, Zack, Trini and I are lovers? We're raising children together too."

"You said six kids," Adam commented as he put his hand on Kimberly's back and steered her through the garage to the silvery blue minivan. She seemed a bit shocked at the idea of Jason having more than one lover.

"Zack adopted Tierra and Gaia a few years back," Jason said, "he and Trini also have a son named Brent that Trini is raising, while I have Jamie and Blake. The kids live together during the summer with whoever has the easiest schedule and we take the last week of June and the first week of July for a family vacation all together." They climbed into the van and Jason sighed, "The logistics aren't easy, but unless one of us chooses to retire we'll live this way."

"What do Trini and Zack do then?" Kimberly asked.

"Zack works for Interpol," Jason said, as he drove the van out of the garage and down the street. "He's currently living in Prague, but he's supposed to be up for a promotion so he might move. Trini works in Virginia as a child psychologist. She does work with the state police in child abuse cases a lot."

"Zack's a CIA agent," Tommy offered, "he married Angela from high school in 2008 and his daughter Olivia was born in 2009. He is the CIA liaison to Lightspeed now. Trini had a private practice in Angel Grove until you became a US Representative. You are campaigning for a Senate term now, with an eye towards the Presidency in 2016. You are also a lawyer."

Adam looked out the window, curious, as they took the winding road down into the city. Jason had found, or built, a house in the hills that surrounded Mariner Bay, with a fantastic view of the city and the ocean, and the nearest neighbors were further down the mountain. Adam eyed the construction a site for a moment, wondering how fast it would take them to build up to Jason's secluded home.

"WHAT?" Jason said, screeching to a halt just short of a stop sign.

"You're a politician," Tommy said gleefully, "a Democrat, of course, but still a politician."

"What did you let me do to myself?" Jason demanded.

"Actually, we did try to talk you out of it," Adam offered. "You wouldn't listen to us though. If Trini knows why, she isn't talking, but Tanya doesn't know at all. She was so _mad_ that day, because Trini told her that she couldn't do any of her usual techniques to find out."

Kimberly cleared her throat, "Actually, it has to do with SPD. And there's a car coming up behind us."

"Right, driving," Jason muttered as he turned onto the other street. "What's SPD?"

"You've never," Tommy asked.

Adam stared from Jason to the other Adam, who also shook his head in confusion. "SPD is a space based police department called Space Patrol Delta," Kimberly said. "When you look at them on paper, they sound like a good thing. They have special morphers that enhance the users but do _not_ make them Rangers and they provide planetary defense and police services to planets that don't have Rangers."

"In practice," Tommy said bitterly, "they're benevolently evil. There's this person, a Troobian named Grumm. He was a warlord, but now he's an Emperor, and he wants the universe to be a Troobian Empire. Right after the Orb went down, Grumm took down the original creators of SPD, the Syrians. Then he put a minion in SPD that has twisted their policies and practices."

"In the past ten years, SPD has indirectly caused the destruction of so many young Ranger teams," Adam said. "There's one girl on Earth, she works at the dojo right now, and she was a Black Ranger on a new team before SPD showed up. Her home planet, they didn't realize that there can be collateral damage in a Ranger fight, and SPD claimed they could minimize the damage with training. The Rangers refused to join SPD; they'd heard the rumors of course. Then the government got involved. Since they were a hidden identity team, the government took steps to force their identity. The Rangers eventually realized that they'd have to join SPD, so they took the third option."

"The last time SPD got their hands on old morphers, like our Power Coins, or the Eltarean morphers, they accidently, or 'accidentally' destroyed the morphers while experimenting with them. The Ranger team in question had something akin to the Zeo Crystal that channeled power to their morphers, and they weren't about to risk that to SPD. The girl who works for me, Kassimia, she took the power channel and fled the planet. She's the only person who knows where the power channel is now, but it's safe from SPD." Tommy said.

"If you think Kas's reaction was over the top," Adam said, "she checked up on her old team a month or two back. Their Blue Ranger is dead in a training accident that left their Pink insane, their Yellow in a coma, and their Red so completely mind wiped that he didn't even recognize her. Eltare had to step in to keep them from branding her a criminal."


	8. Lightspeed

A/N: This is Kimberly, who only lived through the timeline after the Orb changed it. I wish I had set this for late 2013 instead of 2012, I totes wanted to make a Drift compatible joke. The kiss between Zack and Jason was in No Clowning Around (ok, it probably wasn't an actual kiss, just a fake, but still worked for me) Enjoy!

* * *

The rest of the trip was made in silence as they all stared out the windows. Kimberly tried to keep from staring at her alter-verse self, wondering what had prompted the woman to marry Tommy. Not that Tommy was a bad person, in fact, he was often rather sweet in a puppy dog sort of way, but Kimberly had never really expected the two of them to last long past high school. Not with her Olympic dreams, and Tommy's wish for a quiet life in some small town, at least.

Adam sneezed, and Kimberly glanced over at quiet, black ranger quickly before focusing her eyes outside the window. Tommy had said something about an orb, and the only thing Kimberly could think of was the Orb of Doom, unleashed by Master Vile months after she had gone to Florida.

Tommy and Billy had both written her about the Orb, Kimberly could remember. The letters had been odd, something in the tone hadn't been right. Then Bianca had gotten hurt and Kimberly had been moved from alternate to the actual team, and thoughts about the Orb and her friends' weird letter had been put to the back of her mind in favor of training.

That was when she had met Brian, another gymnast, and suddenly, any moment she wasn't training was spent talking with Brian. He had been so sweet and earnest, and without the load of guilt that hung about Tommy like an albatross. It had been so easy to write the letter to Tommy, letting him down as best she could before mailing it in the next mail call.

It wasn't until she suddenly found herself with a two-week break to heal from a sprained ankle and nothing to do that Kimberly realized she hadn't heard anything from her friends. Jason had called and invited her to come out to Angel Grove while she healed, and Kimberly had convinced Schmidt to let her spend a little time with her friends.

There had been something so strange about Tommy, not just Tommy, but Adam and Kat had seemed different, and she hadn't known Tanya or Justin at all. With this latest round of mind control, Kimberly had been worried about Tommy, everyone who spent time with Tommy and counted him a friend knew that Tommy had a habit of brooding and feeling guilt whenever he was reminded of his past.

This time, Tommy had been so different. He was more relaxed in some ways. He had joked with her and Jason, but there had been an odd stiffness to his mannerism, as if he was trying to act like someone he'd only heard of before. It wasn't until Adam had called him to help land the Megazord back at the Power Chamber that Tommy had loosened up.

After that had been the Olympics, college, Charlie, the children, and the SWAT team, and in thirteen years, Kimberly had only been to the reunions a handful of times. It seemed like every time she went, things were different. There was a distance between Tommy and the others, except for Adam, and even then, they always seemed to carefully keep their distance from each other.

Kimberly could freely admit that she was happy that Tommy and Sam had found each other. She had met Sam three times before the woman had passed away, and it was clear that she had adored Tommy as much as Tommy had loved her, and his daughters had all the best features of their parents.

Suddenly, Kimberly realized that she had been watching a chain link fence go past her window for a while, and beyond it was a two-story building that had the odd uniformity of a military building, beyond that was the ocean, close enough to hear the windows had been down. "That's Lightspeed's ground base," Jason said, "don't say anything ok? The guards know better than to gossip, but we prefer not to make it hard for them to keep their mouths shut."

He swung the van into the driveway and Kimberly wondered how often he'd brought this large van to work. Kimberly could admit to being startled when Jason had so casually commented on being in a relationship with Trini and Zack, but now that she'd had time to let it sink in, she could see it was plausible. There had been a _lot_ of teasing when they were teens after Zack had kissed Jason as a joke, but there had been something missing. Just as it always made her stop for a moment when she remembered that, Jason and Trini were married.

Zack had been Jason's closest friend for years before Kimberly had moved to Angel Grove, and while Trini and Billy had been as close as siblings, there was something to the dynamic of Jason, Zack, and Trini that had been indefinable. It was something about the way energy hummed between the three of them on the rare days when they sparred as a group.

"Good afternoon sir," the guard said, jolting Kimberly out of her thoughts again.

"Afternoon Corporal," Jason replied easily, "Any news from the base?"

"Just some weird energy signatures running around, no alerts yet," the Corporal replied.

"Good," Jason said, "listen, I need you to send ahead and tell them we've got a Code Rainbow coming in? Mostly non-hostile, but they need to be aware."

"Not a problem sir, best get on then. I hope you get everything fixed quickly."

"You and me both," Jason replied as he started the van forward.

They drove around the building to a second one with a large garage door that opened as they approached. Jason drove inside and pulled into a clearly marked spot. "Let's go. They're going to want to see us on the Aquabase straight away with that call going through."

Jason led them through the large, garage-like structure to a door. They went through and down a flight of metal stairs and through a door, that Jason used a pass card to open. Beyond it was a platform, and waiting was a small train. "Everybody in," Jason said.

"This is better than the helicopter and sub routine," Tommy commented as they filed into the train and found seats.

"Yeah," Jason said, "it was developed after we sealed off the demons."

"Hey, hold the train," someone called.

The Rangers turned and Kimberly stifled a gasp, because there was another Tommy Oliver heading their way. She took a moment to compare him to her Tommy. He looked harder, somehow, his hair was in actual spikes, and he wore red. Other than that, he could have been her Tommy. Behind him was Rocky, who headed straight for the two Adams, green shirt in hand. "Here," he said, "I think my Adam should wear this, just so that people can tell you apart."

"It's not that hard to tell us apart," one of the Adams said as he took the shirt. Rocky and the second Tommy took seats and the train started with a lurch.

"Call it my peace of mind then," Rocky replied and dipped down to kiss Adam lightly.

"Dammit," the other Adam said suddenly.

"What?" Jason asked, "What's wrong?"

"I was kind of hoping that with me _and_ Adam here," he paused, "and that is one of the weirdest thoughts I've had. Anyways, I thought that two Adams would help negate the effects of a single Tommy Oliver."

"Do you really think so?" The other Adam asked thoughtfully.

"Well, yeah," Adam said, "two Adams means double the effect, right?"

"Then what are two Tommy Olivers?" Jason asked.

"Division by zero," Adam said.


	9. Not A Cloning Accident

A/N: I didn't forget this, I promise. Things are about to get interesting. Enjoy!

* * *

Jason wasn't entirely sure what to think of the three timeline travelers. They were an interesting group, and he could see some of his own people in the three of them, more so in Tommy and Adam than in Kimberly, but still, both women clearly had an interest in fashion, so that was something they could possibly bond over. He had seen the Adams sharing pictures of their children as if they were two old friends, meeting up on some occasion and enjoying a moment to talk. "Is something on your mind?"

Jason looked up as Tom settled beside him, "Not really," Jason said, "I was just wondering what was going on with the sensors."

Tom shook his head, "Probably another ghost. Ever since they updated them, we've been getting ghosts all over the place."

Jason shrugged, he was not sure he agreed with Tom's assessment. "I just got this feeling," he said, "that we should worry just a bit more about them."

"Hey!" Tommy shouted suddenly.

Jason looked up to find Tommy pulling Kimberly away from Kim, who was smirking. "Excuse me," Tom said, standing up.

"Seriously, Kimberly," Tommy said, crowding her into a different seat, "if you two want to go a few rounds, we'll find a space for it and lay ground rules. You are not fighting in here if I can help it."

"You'd break them up?" Tom asked as he slid into the seat next to Kim.

"Not for a million dollars," Tommy replied, "I'm not that stupid man."

"I thought you were a martial artist," Tom said.

"I am," Tommy said, "doesn't mean I'll get between to ladies in a fight. It is one of the few school policies I agree with. You get two boys fighting, all you have to do is break in and distract them. Two girls will attack you to get to each other if they are mad enough. It's school policy to let them fight it out rather than risk injuring someone else."

Adam snorted as he tugged his green shirt straight, "Sound policy. At least we're almost there."

A few moments later the train slid to a stop and the doors slid open, "We need to go see Mitchell," Jason said, "and then we'll see what else can be done."

When Tom and Rocky fell into his group, Jason raised his eyebrows, "What?" Tom asked, "I think the look on Mitchell's face is going to be priceless, I want to see it in person."

"What he said," Rocky replied as he slung his arm over Adam's shoulders.

Jason shook his head, "You are the reason Mitchell has an ulcer," he told his friends before turning to lead the way down to Mitchell's office.

There were some double takes as people realized there were three extra Rangers, but no one stopped them. Jason figured he should be grateful that the Rangers were at the training facility at the moment, between Joel's love of chaos and Ryan's secret ability to be an epic troll; there would have been a lot more interest in their group. As it was, they made it to Mitchell's office in record time. Stan, Mitchell's secretary, took one look at their group and waved them on. "He's expecting you," Stan said.

"How's his mood?" Jason asked.

"About normal," Stan replied.

"Right," Jason said. Either Joel and Ryan had been on good behavior, or Mitchell just had not heard about their latest escapades. He opened the door and waved the rest of the group inside.

"Hello Rangers," Mitchell was saying as Jason closed the door again, "had a cloning accident?"

"Not this time," Jason replied, "Will, may I introduce Doctor Tommy Oliver, Kimberly Johansson, and Adam Park. They're from an alternate timeline."

"Time travel?" Mitchell said.

"Not exactly," Tommy said, "it's not so much traveling in time as it is a lateral shift. Our timelines were the same before a divergent action happened to separate us. In our case, the divergent action occurred in 1996, during the attack by Master Vile. In our timeline, Vile was able to activate a device that brought the world back to 1988. For most people, that included reversing their memories to that time period, although we active rangers remained aware of the device's effect, and after the timeline was irrevocably changed, we remember the difference. It's not the first time we've experienced such a shift either."

"Really?" Mitchell said.

Tommy shrugged, "It's happened twice that I know of, the first was a mixed group in 2010 that came back with knowledge of a future apocalypse and how to prevent it, and the second time it was a different group who was sent to the same future, one year later, and then back. Since we've changed the event that led to the apocalypse, it's no longer an issue."

"How?" Jason asked, wondering if he should have been pushing them for this sort of information.

"My youngest daughter," Kimberly said, "was kidnapped and held by a pseudo-government think tank. She would have been forced to work for them, culminating in the apocalypse. When the team first went to that future, they came back with knowledge of how to find her before the project was ever started. They got her back. Seeing as Mrs. Oliver and I have different husbands, it's highly unlikely that you would face the same event."

"Remind me later and I'll give you the full details," Tommy said, "it won't be the same events, but forewarned is forearmed."

"Thank you," Jason said, "and I'll remind you." For a moment, he pictured being able to file an RA form without having to rewrite the thing, but then he remembered that it was Tommy he was talking about.

Mitchell's intercom buzzed, "Yes," he said.

"The updates on the radar reports are here, sir," Stan said.

"Send them in," Mitchell replied, "I hope you have some plan to deal with this, Lee Scott."

"We're working on it," Jason agreed. "I was hoping you would authorize the use of discretionary funds to provide accommodations for our guests."

Mitchell eyed Jason, "That sounds like you're volunteering to do more paperwork."

Jason shook his head slightly, "Not volunteering, merely accepting the inevitable."

The door behind them opened and Jason turned slightly. A woman came in clutching a stack of files. Movement in the corner of his eye, made Jason turn further. Kimberly looked stunned, Tommy expressionless, and Adam was watching the woman walk away from them with a burning intensity not unlike the looks exchanged between Rocky and his Adam.

"Thank you, Lieutenant," Mitchell said.

"You're welcome sir," the woman replied. Jason turned back to find the Lieutenant heading back towards them, and he hoped she did not think that something was too odd about their group. The Lieutenant did not stare, at least, and when Jason checked on their guests, all three of them had managed to recover enough to keep their faces neutral.

A shattering thump, as if someone had thrown a glass object, brought Jason's attention back to Mitchell. As Jason turned, he saw something glittering hit the ground with the sound of breaking glass, and smoke was beginning to issue from the ground. "What the…" Rocky said before he started coughing.

Jason looked at Mitchell, only to see the man's features begin to melt like hot wax. As the smoke made him cough, Jason watched as Mitchell became something else, a taller, slender creature with lavender skin and dragonfly wings.

Then the smoke overcame him and the world went black.


End file.
